By Fr Flovi D’Souza for BISMumbai

The annual meeting of the principals of Salesian schools of the Province of Bombay was held on 13-14 July 2023 at Don Bosco Provincial House, Matunga, Mumbai. 

On the first day, the Provincial, Fr Savio Silveira, in his address, thanked the principals for the role they were playing and for being the human face of our schools and of our Salesian Ministry. In his address, Fr Silveira emphasised on the nature of a Salesian school which makes it different from other schools because of the characteristics of integral education, relationships with stakeholders, importance given to faith education, provision of safe spaces for our students and making a preferential option for the poor.

He then made a reference to two important points: every school had to revisit their admission policy to ensure that the poorest of the poor are being admitted and every community in an urban setting would make its entire infrastructure available to the poor after school hours. Finally, Fr Silveira was keen that there be a synergy between schools. He emphasised that rural schools need the solidarity of the city schools. 

Fr Ashley Miranda, the Vice-Provincial, took a session on Salesian youth ministry vis-a-vis Salesian schools and emphasised that all Salesian ministry is youth ministry. He presented the aspects of Salesian youth ministry: Salesian identity, our preferential option, the preventive system, the oratory criterion and the EPC, animation being the best form of education and the SEPP. Ms Ranjana Gupta (Head of Professional Development DBIS) conducted a workshop on classroom observation. Through the workshop, the principals got information on and discussed the need for classroom observation and the system to be followed and the method of giving feedback. 

The principals were then presented with a video on the best practices of schools in the province, the road map of NEP 2020, the annual schools commission report and the education pastoral plan of Don Bosco Borivali vis-à-vis the four youth ministry dimensions. After this, the principals met according to their respective zones to discuss the proposed dates of the Peace Education Seminar, the implementation of the admission policy and the suggestions for improvement of the academic performance in board exams and presented their discussions.

The second day was dedicated to sessions on Peace Education conducted by Fr Peter Gonsalves, where he presented the principals with the manual, workbook and plan to introduce teachers to the concept so that it could be taken forward accordingly. He requested inputs from the principals on how they intended to implement Peace Education in their respective institutions. 

Fr Silveira concluded the two-day session reiterating that as a province we are fully committed to taking Peace Education forward.